All the Dragon's Gold

The rain lashed against their faces like freezing knives, made even colder by the weary fatigue swiftly closing in. Kili couldn’t remember the last time he had been this tired, or this cold. His very bones seemed to have turned to ice as they shuffled along the ledge, high, high in the air. Thunder crashed and boomed around them, their faces occasionally illuminated by lightning. The only comfort for him in this desolate night, was the steady presence of his brother, Fili. Knowing he was right behind him was the only thing keeping Kili on this god-forsaken quest. That, and his loyalty to Thorin. Third heir in the line of Durin, he had a duty to try and reclaim Erebor, no matter how he truly felt about the matter. If it had been up to Kili, he would have left well enough alone...but adventure had called, and his thirst for the wild had gotten the better of him. Now, he found himself wondering if he had made the right choice.
“This is no thunder storm! It’s a thunder battle!”
Thorin’s yell made Kili look up....and gasp. Stone giants, huge, stone giants looked above them, clashing in battle like two avenging mountain gods.
Fear gripped his heart, but Kili didn’t let it show. He had to be brave, he had to be brave...
The ground beneath his feet started to move. Panic lurched his heart to his mouth as he and the others were suddenly jerked away from Thorin and company, swinging out into the abyss on the knee of a stone giant. “Kili!”
Fili saw the fear on his little brother’s face as he was carried away, desperation quelling all other thoughts. “Kili!”
The others were two preoccupied with their own safety to notice the utter desolation in Fili’s expression as the stone crashed back into the mountainside.
“NO!” Thorin’s scream was nothing compared to Fili’s emotions at that moment. He raced after their leader, pushing the others aside in his desperation. “Kili! KILI!”
Please be alright please be alright oh God oh God don’t be dead don’t be dead little brother please please let him be safe....
Fili’s thoughts were incoherent, impossible to piece together. This was beyond his worst nightmare, something far worse than losing his own life. Anything, anything in the world would be better than losing Kili...
“They’re alive! They’re alright!”
He rounded the corner of the cliff-face to see Kili, Bilbo and the others lying on the rock ledge. They had been deposited safely in a hollow in the rock when the giant had crashed into the mountain. They were battered, but alright.
“Kili...”
Everybody else jumped to rescue the precariously hanging Bilbo, but Fili didn’t even notice the plight of the hobbit. Without anybody noticing, he pulled his brother into his arms and hugged him tightly. “I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered.
Kili hugged him back before remembering he was supposed to be macho and tough. “Thought you’d get rid of me that easily, eh?” he laughed, pulling away as Thorin grudgingly rescued Bilbo. Fili could see right through his bravado. Kili was shaken, he couldn’t hide that from the brother who knew him better than anyone.
The company headed onwards to find shelter, Fili and Kili at the back of the troop. Fili clapped his brother on the back and let him walk ahead, keeping him in sight all the time.
No matter what happened on this venture, he would do his utmost to protect his brother. If Erebor was reclaimed, but Kili lost, it would be far too high a price to pay. The world would be nothing without him, cold a bleak. All the dragon’s gold under the mountain couldn’t match the value of a brother.
As they entered the cave, Kili glanced back at Fili. Little did Fili know, his brother had been thinking exactly the same thing as he.